Convergence
Published Feb 16, 2023 12:02 am
MEDIUM RARE
Jullie Y. Daza
What’s wrong with our education system if the little ones need as much help as their teachers?
A convergence of factors political, social, economic, and environmental could explain what is now arguably a generational issue, but did things become difficult in the mid-70’s as soon as the medium of instruction was changed from English to the national language, or Tagalog as it was called before it became Filipino? There may be no actual or factual cause-and-effect resulting from the change, though the two events could be seen as occurring one immediately after the other.
At the time, the muted debate going on centered on the issue of how many languages you could force on a child: his language at home (the mother tongue), the national language (which sounded foreign if you lived outside Manila and its adjacent provinces), and a foreign language called English. However, it was pointed out by opinion makers that TV, radio, and the movies could make the learning of both the national language and English easy to “catch” at home.
Today’s schools and tools – they’re called apps – include the screen culture, which can and do double up as toys for kids and the elderly.
There’s another form of convergence going on, one that I did not notice until Fr. Richard G. Ang, OP, rector of University of Santo Tomas, talked to me in Fookien when we met at Manila Bulletin’s 123rd anniversary cocktails. It hit me between the eyes then that with Father Ang’s appointment, there’s now a seemingly exclusive club of priests with one-syllable surnames who call the shots at the top Catholic schools: Fr. Roberto C. Yap, SJ, at Ateneo de Manila, and Fr. Aristotle Dy, SJ, at Xavier School San Juan and Xavier School Nuvali.
De La Salle University’s president is not of the same ethnicity as Frs. Ang, Dy, and Yap, but Bro. Bernie Oca, FSC, has a surname that’s just as short.
Meanwhile, Chiang Kai Shek College Alumni Association, said to be the largest of its kind, recently inducted Joyce Dy president, with four VP’s. Their board of trustees, being alumni, include the owners/heirs of LT Group, Oishi, Jollibee, MetroBank, Mang Inasal, and the president of FFCCCII. Veritably, a school for success.
Jullie Y. Daza
What’s wrong with our education system if the little ones need as much help as their teachers?
A convergence of factors political, social, economic, and environmental could explain what is now arguably a generational issue, but did things become difficult in the mid-70’s as soon as the medium of instruction was changed from English to the national language, or Tagalog as it was called before it became Filipino? There may be no actual or factual cause-and-effect resulting from the change, though the two events could be seen as occurring one immediately after the other.
At the time, the muted debate going on centered on the issue of how many languages you could force on a child: his language at home (the mother tongue), the national language (which sounded foreign if you lived outside Manila and its adjacent provinces), and a foreign language called English. However, it was pointed out by opinion makers that TV, radio, and the movies could make the learning of both the national language and English easy to “catch” at home.
Today’s schools and tools – they’re called apps – include the screen culture, which can and do double up as toys for kids and the elderly.
There’s another form of convergence going on, one that I did not notice until Fr. Richard G. Ang, OP, rector of University of Santo Tomas, talked to me in Fookien when we met at Manila Bulletin’s 123rd anniversary cocktails. It hit me between the eyes then that with Father Ang’s appointment, there’s now a seemingly exclusive club of priests with one-syllable surnames who call the shots at the top Catholic schools: Fr. Roberto C. Yap, SJ, at Ateneo de Manila, and Fr. Aristotle Dy, SJ, at Xavier School San Juan and Xavier School Nuvali.
De La Salle University’s president is not of the same ethnicity as Frs. Ang, Dy, and Yap, but Bro. Bernie Oca, FSC, has a surname that’s just as short.
Meanwhile, Chiang Kai Shek College Alumni Association, said to be the largest of its kind, recently inducted Joyce Dy president, with four VP’s. Their board of trustees, being alumni, include the owners/heirs of LT Group, Oishi, Jollibee, MetroBank, Mang Inasal, and the president of FFCCCII. Veritably, a school for success.